1 . After a two-hour flight from Shanghai and an hour’s drive, I reached my destination: Jielingkou Village in Qinhuangdao City of Hebei Province, China. The tiny and ________ village is home to Shanhai Pass, where the Great Wall finally dives into the sea. During the Ming Dynasty (1368~1644), Jielingkou Village was considered an extremely important part of the Great Wall. But it slowly fell out of ________ and into disrepair—in modern China.

In 2018, an anti-poverty project began in the village, with the ________ of not only fixing the place up, but also ________ the living standards of the 200 people still living there. One of the ________ was to change all of the old homes into modern guesthouses. “This will allow city folks to enjoy the Great Wall in comfort,” said Ge, who was ________ the project.

But gaining the locals’ ________ took a lot of effort at the beginning. “Just two years ago, they weren’t ________ about the project at all,” Ge told me. “Seeing that they had to ________ water from a faraway well every day, we decided to build a water system that would send water to their homes. It’s one of the first, ________ we have made. It really ________ . Now some of those who were strongly against our project are now our greatest ________ .”

Ge said he hopes that as conditions are ________ becoming better in Jielingkou, some of the younger members of the village who left to seek opportunity in the cities will come back. “Already two university graduates who grew up in the village have returned to ________ the guesthouses. I hope more will be ________ by the potentials here soon.”

2 . Do you listen? Do you really listen? Is there more to listening than just hearing?

Listening is, by far, one of the most important aspects of communication. So often, you pay attention to your way of speaking, your _________ , your dialect, but neglect your ability to listen.

It is my _________ that people scream out or change the intended purposes of much of what they hear. Too often, we consider listening the _________ part of conversation, although it requires our focus, purpose, and active participation.

Listening means to give ear to, to pay attention to, to _________ , to witness, to hear with thoughtful _________ , or to understand.

The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and to be understood. The only way to understand is to _________ .

Learn to be an active listener. Give off positive body language._________ a willingness to socialize. Ask the right questions. Boost your _________ so that you can understand more and achieve effective listening.

Listening means we should respond, that we should be touched, that what we hear has a(n)_________ on us. I believe that history __________ itself only because no one listens the first time.

You were given two ears, but only one mouth, which is a gentle hint that we should listen more, because God knew that listening was twice as __________ as talking. Listening is the key building block in effective communications. Good listening skills are crucial, as listening is the fundamental __________ of all information.

Isn’t now the time to give the gift of listening to those about you? Given them your __________ attention. Use your God given __________ to become a better listener. For me, I’m going to put into __________ what I believe in my heart and become a better listener.

3 . Alvin, 66, was deep in the woods in Grand Cane last December when something like litter on the ground caught his eye. It was a _______ balloon with a note attached.

“Dear Santa,” the note _______. “My name is Luna. Four years old. This year I have been _______. I would like candy, Spider-Man ball, My Little Pony. With love, Luna.”

Alvin’s heart hammered in his chest. It reminded him of his childhood wish. He smiled and set out to _______ Luna’s wish. He posted a photo of the balloon and the Christmas wish list on his Facebook page, asking for help _______ the sender.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez, the mother of four-year old Luna, had no idea that such a(n) _______ was underway. It had been a hard year for her family as COVID-19 spread. On a _______ tough day last December, she _______ the idea of having Luna send a letter to Santa by releasing a balloon. They enjoyed a _______ Christmas together, and then the calendar turned to a new year.

One day, Gonzalez received a call saying that someone had found Luna’s balloon. Her jaw ________. She logged on to Facebook and saw Alvin’s ________. She called Alvin and finally agreed to let Alvin fulfill her daughter’s wish list.

“Santa dropped your balloon ________,” Gonzalez told Luna, “but one of his elves (精灵) found it.” Not long after that, Luna received three boxes’ worth of ________with a note signed “Alvin the Elf.”

Now, having received so much ________, Gonzalez and her girl intend to pay it forward this year. After all, when Alvin could have just ________ that balloon in the trash, he went more than the extra mile.

4 . Most young people are always on their phones, which may upset many people. ___________, a group called Girl Scouts are receiving _________ for setting up their first walk-in clinic for elderly people, who have difficulty understanding how to ___________ the secrets of their smart phones.

Each teen spent at least an hour of one-on-one time with their oldsters. Based on their _________ knowledge, each Girl Scout was assigned to ___________ different aspects of Android and Apple phones.

Some of the oldsters actually wanted to take part in e-commerce (电子商务), and needed help to _________ a payment account on their smart phones while others simply had _________ when learning how to send messages to their family members. "I was teaching this older woman how to _________, and the first thing she did was to send a message to her daughter,” one of the Scouts said. “How ___________ it was! It just made me feel really, really happy.”

In addition to arranging group lessons for all of the seniors to ____________ together at the end of the clinic, the youngsters even printed out brochures and guides for the seniors to take home in case ____________ seniors would encounter problems with their smart phones in the future.

The eighth graders earned their “Silver Award,, for their job. After experiencing the ____________ of their project, the girls hope to organize more ____________ in the near future. “Those girls were just great,” said Nancy, a great-grandmother who once ____________ the clinic. “They were ready for us and had a very mature attitude about answering our questions, and they ______________ the praise.

5 . At the Abu Dhabi Special Games in 2019, Li Xiang won two golds, four silvers and a bronze. Li Xiang is 15. But his _________ age is 5 to 6 because the teen suffers from Down’s Syndrome, causing his physical and mental retardation(迟缓). Yet he proved to be a _________ at the Special Olympics World Summer Games.

When Li was diagnosed (诊断) with the _________ soon after his birth, it was for his family the end of the world. _________, when Li was 10, Chinese Olympic _________ champion Li Xiaopeng visited the school where Li Xiang was and _________ for those special students there. The act made Li Xiang _________ to gymnastics. He was determined to become an Olympic _________ like Li Xiaopeng, which brought a _________ of hope to his family.

It was not easy for a __________ child to practice gymnastics. Li __________ from coordination(协调) and __________ problems and was very sensitive when facing failure. However, with the __________ of his coach and parents, in 2015, at the age of 11, Li Xiang __________ his first Special Olympics as one of the youngest competitors. He __________ a gold, two silvers and two bronzes.

“Though years of sports haven’t improved Li Xiang’s __________, I can feel his progress in life, in self- discipline and in __________ with other people,” his mother said. It is difficult for people to __________ the hardship Li Xiang’s family has suffered to __________ up their special child and their happiness on seeing the progress he has achieved so far.

“I __________ sports. It makes me feel happy and energetic,” Li Xiang told reporters after his events.

8 . At a speed of roughly 20 miles a day, the Ardines experienced practically all the extremes the United States has to offer. The brothers kept a detailed record of their ________ on the blog. With the support of friends and family back at home, the brothers’ journey started to gain more ________ . By day 60, they were already 1/3 into their initial goal. News media started to ________ their story. In July, their news caught the attention of Verizon Wireless, who ________ the brothers new cell phones and donated to the cause.

Along their heroes’________, Aiden and Louis met their own everyday heroes. A driver in Nebraska ________ them on the road in the extremely hot weather and doubled back to give them ________ drinks. In Iowa, a couple invited them over for a hearty meal of steak and cheese. In Nevada, a woman who ran a campground let them stay ________. These actions made their hearts ________ with warmth.

Walking by 11 states, Aiden and Louis ________ the sandy beaches of San Francisco after 162 days.________ by their parents and other supporters, the brothers were not only delighted that they achieved their goal, but that they doubled it. Thanks to the Ardines, $70, 000 was ________ between the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation and the COCO Fund, nonprofits created specifically to ________ food workers hit hard by the pandemic（疫情）.

Without the help of a huge community of people, they wouldn’t have been________. It was confirmed that people are kind in their ________ and ready to help others at all times.

9 . Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying “curiosity killed the cat.” It’s a phrase that’s often used to _________

People — especially children — not to ask too many questions. Yet it’s widely agreed that _________ actually makes learning more enjoyable and effective. _________, research has shown that curiosity is just as important as intelligence in _________ how well students do in school.

Curiosity also _________ us to embrace unfamiliar circumstances, brings excitement into our lives, and opens up new possibilities. Being curious requires us to be both humble enough to know we don't have all the answers, and confident enough to _________ it. Asking the questions that help us _________ the gap between what we already know and what we'd like to know can lead us to make unexpected discoveries.

In science, basic curiosity-driven research — conducted without pressure to produce immediate practical results — can have _________ and incredibly important benefits. _________, one day in 1831, Michael Faraday was playing around with a coil (线圈) and a magnet (磁铁)__________ he suddenly saw how he could generate an electrical current. At first, it wasn't clear what use this would have, but it actually made __________ available for use in technology, and so changed the world.

Unsurprisingly, there are chemical and evolutionary theories to __________ why humans are such curious creatures. When we become curious, our brains __________ a chemical called dopamine (多巴胺), which makes the process of learning more pleasurable and improves memory. It is still not known why learning gives us such __________, but one theory is that we may have developed a basic need to fight uncertainty — the more we understand about the world around us, the more likely we are to __________ its many dangers!